Prior art discloses packages of a reclosable type consisting of a container of parallelepiped appearance that presents a base, and a set of side walls extending parallel to a longitudinal axis. The package is also furnished uppermost with a lid, hinged to the container and retained in the closed position by means of a tongue attached permanently to the selfsame container and designed to engage a lip presented by an inside face of the lid.
The products contained in such packages often cannot be dispensed satisfactorily, in particular small tablet-type items, given that with the lid in the open position, the size of the opening through with the contents are released is the same as the entire cross sectional area of the package.
In addition, the lid remains free to pivot on its hinge when open, and can impede the passage of the contents when shaken out of the pocket.
Finally, the tongue is easily defaced, so that the closure of the lid cannot be guaranteed of as long as the contents may remain in the package.
FR 2850952 discloses a package composed of two casings slidable one within another. The inner casing presents an opening of outline selected to suit the product, located in one side face, which is opened or closed by sliding the outer casing of the inner casing. The two casings are joined by a tear-off strip that must be removed in order to enable the sliding motion that opens the package. Finally, the two casings are interconnected by way of a common appendage associated with a bottom edge of the outer casing and with a bottom end face of the inner casing, serving as a travel limiter that prevents the two casings sliding entirely free of one another.
Once the tear-off strip has been removed, the two parts of the conventional package described briefly above remain free to slide as far as the travel limiting appendage will allow, and consequently it will often happen that when movement is induced in the package, for instance when in a garment pocket or a bag, the two parts extend one from another, far enough to expose the opening and allow the tablets or sweets to spill out accidentally.
In US 20050029336 another example is shown of a folding box that comprises an outer contour unit having outer wall elements connected via outer contour fold lines, a lid unit, a base unit, and a reclosable removal opening. A lower inner contour unit with lower inner wall elements connected via lower inner contour fold lines is folded inside the outer contour unit and connected to the outer contour unit via connecting fold lines. A polygonal upper inner contour inner unit having the removal opening and upper inner wall elements connected via upper inner contour fold lines is folded inside the outer contour unit. At least one connecting flap connects the lower and upper inner contour units and is folded inside the folding box. Folding or extending of the connecting flap allows relative displacement of the upper inner contour unit towards the outer contour unit.
A further example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,291 showing a package for containing loose items. The package comprises at least one outer casing and at least one inner casing accommodated slidably within the outer casing and capable of motion between a closed configuration, in which an opening presented by the inner casing is concealed completely by the at least one outer casing, and an open configuration in which the opening is exposed at least in part. The package further comprises means interposed between the outer casing and the inner casing, by which to stabilize the inner casing in each of the two configurations.
For overcoming the above mentioned problems a solution is suggested in EP 1 888 414 where, apart from what is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,291, the stabilizing means comprise at least one connecting appendage hinged along a first line to a side wall of the outer casing, and along a second line to a side wall of the inner casing breasted in sliding contact with the side wall of the outer casing.
When used for items that should not be easily accessible for children, for instance medicine, there are requirements or guidelines as concerns child safety. No one of the above described packages provides for a package that is considered difficult for a child to open and at the same time has a simple construction.